Class, Politics, and Ideology in the Iranian Revolution - Softcover

Moaddel, Mansoor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231078676 ISBN 13: 9780231078672

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 1994

Synopsis

A common weakness of many current dominant theories of revolution, argues author Mansoor Moaddel, is their exclusion of the role of ideology. He examines the Iranian revolution, highlighting class politics and contention for power within the context of changing the ideological relation between the state and civil society. In Moaddel's analytical framework, class politics and the state's action play crucial roles in the genesis of the Iranian Revolution. The state-patterned class conflict defined the identity of the opposition and channeled oppositional activities through the medium of religion. The revolutionary crisis began when the social discontent was expressed in terms of Shi'i revolutionary discourse. Moaddel argues that Shi'i revolutionary ideology was produced by diverse ideologues to address the problems they faced in the post-coup (1953) period. In presenting his argument, Moaddel provides a new and useful interpretation of the revolution in Iran, characterizing the postrevolutionary political order as a Third-World variant of fascism.

About this title

Review

A distinctive and valuable contribution. . . . It is a comprehensive interpretation of the antecedents, underlying conditions, and development of the revolution that offers some sociological insights that will be fresh to readers.

Edition details

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0231078676
• ISBN 13: 9780231078672
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 358